The Meaning Of Eternity (TMOE #1)

Chapter 5: The Hydrina theatre

It was the middle of the night when he woke up, and he quietly thanked Phion for being able to wake up at all. The cold didn't make the pain in his stomach any more bearable though, and he wrapped his arms tight around his body. In the back of his mind the tiny voice wishing to panic over all the recent events tried making itself known, but he promptly kept ignoring it. At least he tried, but the sudden reminder lashed at him and he struggled to not throw up.

"You all right back there?" the wagoner asked as Lucius started coughing to get rid of the horrid sensation. "We're almost there. Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"... Yes," Lucius lied.

"Where? I'll drop you off."

"It's that, uh... That one tavern with..." He looked up at the sky. "... Clouds."

He closed his eyes in regret. Why was he so bad at lying? He would've thought growing up with parents like his would've made him an excellent liar.

"The Cloudy Codfish?" the wagoner asked, and Lucius stared into a crate with arched eyebrows at the fortunate coincidence.

"Oh, yes. That's the one."

"Seems like an odd place for a kid to hang out. But I suppose if you're used to rowdy drunkards..."

Lucius sighed on the inside.

"Yes, well, all my relatives are rowdy drunkards, so..."

The wagoner uttered a nervous laugh and Lucius guessed that lie hadn't been great either. Fortunately they passed by a sign at that moment, telling him they were entering South Kerilia. He'd heard of it before, but he'd never left Wyrmdon so he had no idea what to expect.

Aside from rowdy drunkards I suppose.

With some effort and trembling hands he grabbed hold of one of the crates and poked his head up to have a look as they passed through a street. Compared to Wyrmdon it was... A mess.

The street they were on seemed like the larger one, but every other street they passed by was uneven and bumpy. The town also expanded upwards in some places with stairs leading up to second floors of the buildings, bridges stretching out between them in a big disorderly clutter.

Understandably, there weren't a whole lot of people out at the time and Lucius was grateful for it. There was too much going on in his mind anyway.

After they passed under a larger bridge over the main street the wagoner brought the horses to a halt and turned around.

"This is it, right?"

Lucius glanced over to the side street where he could see a wooden sign resembling a fish and nodded slowly.

"I... Thank you. I appreciate it," he mumbled to the wagoner as he tried to climb off the wagon with as much care as possible. "I wish I could pay you, but—"

"It's no worry," the wagoner cut him off with a sympathetic smile. Perhaps he figured Lucius' situation wasn't as carefree as he claimed it to be. "Just take care, all right?"

Lucius nodded again and did his best to continue smiling until the man couldn't see him anymore, and then he dropped it entirely. Turning around, he wondered if he actually wanted to go to the Cloudy Codfish. It looked as if it was open though given the loud chatter emanating from it, and he figured he could at least have a look.

As soon as he walked up to peer through the window a door was slammed open, almost hitting him in the face, and two men stumbled outside. The smell of them and their expressions seemed to suggest these were the aforementioned drunkards, and Lucius couldn't help but turn his nose up. His parents wouldn't have been caught dead in their presence.